THOHOYANDOU – The founder and principal of the Vhananyana Mountain School, Mrs Sue Anne Cook, has been relieved of some of her school’s financial strain, when her school received a generous donation from Mirror and the Thohoyandou branch of Spar Supermarket.

The presentation ceremony was held at the Tusk Venda Casino Hotel on Saturday evening. During the ceremony, the owner of the newspaper, Mr Anton van Zyl, and the managing director of the Thohoyandou branch of Spar Supermarket, Mr Philip Snyman, handed over a cheque to the value of R20 000 to Mrs Cook.

In his address, Mr Van Zyl attributed the success of the newspaper to, amongst others, the support they are getting from the local businesspeople like Spar Supermarket in the form of advertisements. He also thanked the readers of the paper for their support, adding that this made it possible for the paper to win one of the biggest awards in the print media industry a few weeks ago.

During the ceremony, Mr Snyman praised the local residents for their unlimited support to his business. He revealed that it was their support that led to his store's being chosen as the best among the 750 outlets in the country this year.

Mrs Sue Anne Cook revealed that the school was established three years ago. The school caters for orphans, most of whom lost their parents through HIV/Aids. She said that she has been running the school without any financial assistance since its establishment in 2002. She indicated that part of the money will be used in the construction of a school building.

The mayor for the Thulamela Municipality, Chief TN Makumbane, delivered the keynote address during the ceremony. He praised Mirror and Spar Supermarket for their generous donation to the school and appealed to other businesses to follow suit.

The money was raised through a race that was staged as a joint venture between Mirror and Spar Supermarket. The race was staged on Saturday morning. According to the marketing manager of Mirror, Mr Pieter Jooste, the project was the brainchild of Mrs Belinda van Rensburg of Spar Supermarket. According to him, the race will be staged annually.